


Progress

by Fabrisse



Series: Rebuilding the Table [33]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 09:31:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8051131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabrisse/pseuds/Fabrisse
Summary: The Caradoc recruits need some help during training.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This begins about ten months out from Changes and ends just over a year on. I'm marking it multiple chapters, but I don't know when or if any more will be published or when any further chapters will be set.

“There he is,” Eggsy heard the statement over his glasses feed. He supposed it was as much of a heads-up as Merlin would give him. He scanned the plaza in front of Senate House Library and saw several of the current Caradoc recruits, but only Annabell and her partner Patricia were looking in his direction. He continued on his usual route, hoping they wouldn’t pick up on the fact he’d clocked them. 

Merlin’s voice came over his feed, “I didn’t give them a picture, only a general description, mostly to check on how they’d do without the visual to help them. They don’t know that you have a glasses feed, and they certainly don’t know you’re Arthur.”

“Not even the one I sponsored, since I ain’t met her.” He was heading toward Bloomsbury Square at a good, but not excessive pace. He could feel that he was being followed. “Tell you what, my love, we need somethin’ to see what’s behind us with all our tech.”

“You’re not the first one to make that suggestion. The versions we’ve tried have led the testers to walk into walls. The brain doesn’t divide the images as well as you’d think.”

“Mmm.” Eggsy did a little side step into a passage which would take him away from the main avenue. If he wasn’t followed, it would let him take a slightly more circuitous route without having him go completely out of his way.

Merlin was no longer on his feed. He heard Trevor and James commenting about following the girls and the other two pairs were apparently still hanging around outside Senate House. A quick glance in a window showed that the young ladies had managed to follow him which meant he was going to have to move faster. He made the turn he’d planned to, let the women see that he’d made them and then took off at a flat run. As he’d expected, they chased him.

In the bad old days, Eggsy’d done quite a bit of pickpocketing in this neighborhood. There were lots of tourists, but some posh spots that regular Londoners hit, too. As he ran, he dodged among people and used the alleys and small passages which were hangovers from the Victorian era. He managed to duck into one and saw Annabell and Patricia run past it. He took off his sweater and stuffed it into his bag, changed into sunglasses -- still with full Kingsman, tech -- put in earphones which led to nothing, and did a quick muss of his hair. Even his walk had changed by the time he stepped out and followed behind the two young women who were scanning the crowd to find him. He managed to get close enough to plant a tracker on each of them before stepping into the lobby of the Royal Opera House. He knew a passageway out onto the roof tops there which would let him see how the recruits were regrouping.

It took a few minutes, but he managed to pick out all eight of them from above. They were coordinating, which was a good sign, but his original exit strategy probably wouldn’t work. He found his favorite staircase and went all the way down. He waved to the costuming ladies as he went by, looking as much like he belonged in the space as any of the singers or orchestra members. He kept going until he found the space he was looking for. He went through a door marked, “Absolutely No Entrance,” using a key to avoid setting off an alarm, and walked underneath through an eighteenth century passage between the Opera House and the Drury Lane Theater. He made his way up to the primary lobby, and bought three matinee tickets to see the new production of Mister Cinders which had gotten good reviews.

“I think Daisy will enjoy it,” Merlin said. “Please do the rest of your journey above ground.”

“‘Course. You goin’ to direct them toward me?”

“No, but you have Jonathan and Bennett at the Wellington Street side of Bow Street. They could see you. All the recruits worked out how to make their tech interface, so Annabell and Patricia could recognize you.”

“Like a challenge.” He walked out of the theater with his head down obviously putting away his tickets. He turned in the opposite direction from the recruits and then took Drury Lane to Aldwych before heading onto the LSE campus. “Not even late for class.”

He switched back to his regular glasses. 

“What’s today? I forgot to check the calendar,” Merlin said.

“It’s me option. _Power, Inequality, and Difference: Contemporary Themes in Sociology_.”

“How did I end up married to a man who reads social science? I’ll be drummed out of the secret cabal of mathematicians if I’m found out.”

Eggsy laughed. “Are you goin’ to have them try again on my way home?”

“No, mostly because I don’t want them knowing where _**I**_ live. Let’s try you again tomorrow before I move onto a knight whose recruit could recognize him.”

“All right. I’ll pick a good route.”

***  
The recruits were at headquarters in the main library with their dogs. None of them had done particularly well with their unit on urban tracking and Merlin had, with the agreement of the table, decided to move onto parkour and other useful tools before coming back to urban tracking.

Merlin walked in and said, “Fall in.”

The humans stood to attention and the dogs sat to their masters’ right. 

“You’ve been learning the basics of parkour, and yesterday’s little sojourn has convinced me that you’re ready to start working in an urban setting. I’m not an expert in this, so I’ve asked Eggsy, who’s a reliable traceur, to take over this area of your training for the next fortnight.”

Eggsy came in wearing a siren suit. Since he’d been allowed to pick his own suiting, he was wearing a prince of wales check with a forest green windowpane. 

“Right. I watched the feeds from yesterday’s run with concealed weapons. Today I want to run it with you, same weapons. The main difference is that there will be targets springing up along the way. If they’re armed, you’re to shoot them, only kill shots will count. If they’re unarmed, you dodge ‘em. Got it? Let’s head out.”

It took them a moment to notice that he wasn’t leading them where they expected. 

Patricia called out to him, “Um… Eggsy, the beginning of the course is this way.”

“First rule of free running, it’s never the same twice. We’re startin’ at the end and working our way back. Rest of the week, I’ll pick random parts of the course to start in and have you complete it in a specified route. So today’s the easy one.”

The recruits checked with each other before falling in behind him.

Two hours later, Eggsy was waiting for them on the stone steps into headquarters as they dragged themselves back.

Trevor said, “You cheated.”

“Nope,” Eggsy said, “An’ I’m pretty sure it’s ungentlemanly to accuse someone of doing so.”

Trevor exchanged disbelieving looks with Jonathan and Gurdip, and Eggsy decided to ask Merlin about their overall attitudes when they got home for supper.

Patricia said, “Permission to pass out, sir?”

“Let’s head to the cafeteria and grab some water an’ a teacake or somethin’.”

He gestured for Patricia, Annabell, and Jessica to precede him and then walked in with the boys. Trevor and Jonathan were first through the door and Eggsy thought he noticed an eyeroll from Jessica when they sat down between the three women. 

“So,” Eggsy began as he sat down with a cup of lapsang souchong and an cheddar and pickle brown bread sandwich, “how do you think you did today?”

“We’ll have to see how Merlin rates us, won’t we?” James asked.

Eggsy said, “Why? He said he don’t know much ‘bout parkour which is why I’m trainin’ you on it. An’ I’m the one askin’ how you think you did.”

Jessica said, “Not good.”

Annabell said, “Not bad, though?”

“All right, both those’re fair. You got far too reliant on the regular order of things. None of you adapted well to the curved wrought iron fence, f’r instance. But you all completed the course. I think Jonathan was the only who shot a child, an’ thank heaven it weren’t a real one, and everyone but Annabell missed the armed man who sprang out slightly behind you.”

“Well, those curved spikes were going the wrong way,” Jonathan said.

“No, they were goin’ the same way they’d been goin’ all week. _You_ were comin’ from a different direction, notice that I din’t say wrong, jus’ different. If you’re runnin’ for your life from a bad guy, you don’t know which way the spikes might be facin’.”

“Yes, well, if we do our jobs right, that will never happen,” Trevor said. “My uncle’s one of the knights, you know.”

“Ah. Erec, I s’pose.”

“Yes, have you worked for him, Eggsy?”

“Our spheres don’ really cross.”

“Jonathan and I thought maybe you were one of the gardeners. Get a nice siren suit to stand out for your time helping Merlin.”

“No to both. Tell you what, though, if you don’t figure it out by the end of the fortnight, I’ll tell you exactly what I do here.”

Annabell said, “Um, my grandfather may have…”

Eggsy winked at her. “Then, please, give your grandfather my regards.”

“And keep my mouth shut?”

Eggsy just nodded. “Finish your tea and then go to your evening assignments. Ten tomorrow, we meet at those wrought iron spikes and do some drills in both directions before runnin’ the course before lunch.”

“Lunch is at noon,” Gurdip said. “We can’t be late.”

“Since we’re doin’ the drills first, we can meet at nine-thirty instead, but you’ll still run the course in full and if you’re late for lunch, you can explain it to Merlin yourselves.”

***  
By the following Monday, Eggsy reckoned they were ready for some simple runs in the city. He’d spoken to the Mayor and found a couple of abandoned areas with interesting challenges where they would be permitted to run.

He spent most of Saturday and Sunday checking them out, trying to figure out the best routes between various mark points, so he could judge them on their choices as well as their physical abilities, Along the way, he’d either noted where cameras already existed or marked where Merlin’s team could put in some of the tiny ones Nimue’s team had developed.

The actual runs were exhilarating for Eggsy, but watching them afterward with Merlin and the other raters was a little discouraging. Several of them seemed to enjoy it. Most of them understood how it could come in handy in a pinch -- though Trevor was still saying that a knight who did his job correctly would never need it. None of them had the sense of urgency that would propel them through the runs at anything like a good pace. At best, one or two of them tried to keep up with him; not one of them seemed to understand they could be running it for their lives.

After the final run, he went home for dinner and seduced his husband into an early night. About three hour later, Merlin was waking him back up in the best way ever. They spent themselves out and Eggsy said, “What’re we even going to do with ‘em?”

“The recruits? What Merlins always do. Perform magic. I admit, I can’t see how to pull off this trick…”

“But I know you’d never disappoint your Arthur.”

Merlin swatted his ass affectionately. “Getting too big for your breeches?”

“Wouldn’t know. Never wore breeches.” He kissed Merlin’s shoulder. “I know we’ve got at least the weekend to come up with somethin’, but…”

“I assure you, _mo chridhe_ , this group is still better than the Erec cohort I ran. We’ve been very lucky with the last three cohorts. The cream rose to the top quickly and there was a great deal of it. Enough that we could have two candidates join the table from each group and we hadn’t needed two at once since 1966.”

“Never thought I’d wish Rottie were alive, but him an’ Dean’s muppets threatenin’ them would get their asses movin’.”

“No. Not even as a motivating force can I ever wish that waste of breathable air was still alive. But that may be part of your solution. Take them to a rougher neighborhood. Let it be known they’ve got a hundred quid on them and see how they get away from the local hooligans.”

Eggsy snuggled deeper into Merlin’s chess. “Sounds possible. Let’s work out the details tomorrow, my lover, after Daisy’s dressage lesson.”

Merlin kissed his forehead. “Details later.” 

***  
The middle of the following week, Eggsy met them in his old neighborhood. He was in mufti, but they were still in their siren suits.

“Hey, Bruv,” Jamal walked up to them and greeted Eggsy street style. He turned to the recruits and looked them over with a critical eye. “They stand out like sore thumbs, even the ones as is closer to my complexion. I figure the primary school kids could take ‘em out. I mean, long as they ain’t carryin’.”

“Nah, made ‘em leave their guns at headquarters, din’t I? ‘Specially ‘cause Jonathan keeps shootin’ the little girl on the course.”

“Should you be talking about headquarters here? To some random person?” Trevor was positively indignant. 

“I’m a driver and doin’ testin’ for the tech development department. Prolly know more ‘bout what’s goin’ on than you do,” Jamal said.

Eggsy could see Trevor’s jaw muscle working and decided to ask Merlin whether the boy had anger issues.

Several other men around Eggsy’s and Jamal’s age came around the corner and greeted them both with fist or chest bumps. Two of the younger tailors in good suits of their own joined them. 

Eggsy nodded to them and they fell in behind him. “So, behind me in the suits are two Kingsman tailors. They’re your judges for this. They’ll be up on high ground where they can see this whole estate.” He nodded to them and they started off to their designated areas. 

Turning to the recruits, he said, “You lot will have a map and a compass, but honestly, you aren’t going to have much chance to use them. I’ll be waiting with Merlin by the locked gate near Smith Street. We’ll unlock it as we see you coming. The others behind me are your motivation. You’ll be blindfolded and taken to different parts of the estate. We’ve weighted the different starting areas for difficulty and distance, so just ‘cause you’re first out of the estate don’t mean you’re first in the listings, right?” He waited for their nod. “This lot are also going to be your motivation.” All eight of them pulled knives, mostly flick or butterfly. Eggsy said, “They’re allowed to cut your clothin’ an’ if they draw blood in the heat of the moment, Merlin’s got no problem with it. And yes, those suits you got on are bullet proof, but there’s a difference between that and stab proof. You aren’t to hurt anyone who lives here. If I find out anyone took a human shield, they’ll be bounced so hard they’ll end up in Penzance. We clear?”

The recruits nodded and Annabell said, “Clear, Eggsy.”

He lifted his chin and the drivers and other workers each went to a recruit and blindfolded him or her before putting them in taxis to go to different parts of the estate. Eggsy clicked his glasses into recording mode and ran the most direct and difficult route he could from this point to the gate where Merlin was waiting.

***  
Jonathan was in last place by the time everything had been reviewed. There was debate among the raters, which didn’t include Eggsy, about whether it was enough to drop him from the program. 

Merlin said, “We’ve never used a probationary period before, but I can ask Arthur if that would be appropriate in this instance.”

Jamal, who was a rater only for this unit, said, “Isn’t he the one who kept killin’ the lit’l girl on the trainin’ round? ‘Cause if that’s the case, if he never got better, then why are we talkin’ about keepin’ him.”

Merlin glanced at the team psychologist, Doctor Calabria, and saw her nod. He said, “Since I don’t remember off the top of my head if he finally did get it right on the last go ‘round, why don’t I have them run it again with the same rules. If he shoots her, he’s out. Is there anyone else we’ll be keeping a closer than usual eye on?”

“Patricia,” said Doctor Calabria.

“Why?”

“She’s not just slow. She’s watching what the others are doing and imitating them. For the first few rounds, that’s a good strategy. But by this point, she should have made it her own and be speeding up -- probably not leading the pack, it will never be her strong suit -- but she should be holding her own, and, more importantly, confident in her own instincts.”

Merlin nodded and glanced at the others who nodded in agreement.

“Eggsy goin’ to run it with ‘em again?”

Merlin said, “Well, a couple of them are getting a bit shirty that he didn’t keep his promise to let them know his role around here.” He smiled wickedly. “Yes, I think he will.”

***  
The following morning as they finished their post breakfast chores, Merlin called for them to fall-in.

“This morning, we’re going to review your glasses feeds from the estate run. By the way, this will include Eggsy’s run. His was both the fastest time and the most difficult run, but he pointed out, before the run, that he knew the estate very well from his childhood, so we should work out what type of time penalty that would be for purposes of comparison. The other raters and I decided a half hour penalty was appropriate. He still had the fastest time by one minute.” Merlin noticed their reactions which included a nod from Annabell, a head shake from Jonathan, and shrugs from Gurdip and Jessica.

He continued, “This afternoon, you’ll be running the parkour course for the final time. Tomorrow, we start on vehicles. The route you’ll run is this one.” He adjusted something on his clipboard and a projected version of the course with the route marked went up on the wall behind the television. You will carry your laser weapons and shoot as appropriate. Along with the estate run you did three days ago, this will be averaged to determine your final standings for this unit.”

“Permission to speak, sir,” Trevor said.

“Granted.”

“I still say a good knight will never need this skill. I don’t know what your relationship is with this Eggsy person, but he’s obviously sleeping with someone or blackmailing them or something to hold onto his position here. He’s never on the grounds except for this unit which suggests he’s shirking.”

“Did it never occur to you that Eggsy works at the shop, not headquarters? Or that I might have brought him in from one of our satellites to take advantage of his expertise? I assure you. He works very hard at a difficult job.”

Trevor sniffed, but held his tongue.

“I also think,” Merlin continued, “that it’s time to introduce you to the head of the table, since you’re working so hard to join it. Arthur?”

Eggsy strolled in wearing a dark charcoal suit, similar in cut to his gift from Harry, with a pale French blue shirt with white collar and cuffs, and a perfectly knotted Kingsman tie. His glasses were black, emphasizing the strong bones in his face. His abstract multicolored Turnbull and Asser print pocket square was the only bit of flare he permitted himself. 

Merlin locked his knees to keep from ravishing his husband in front of the recruits.

“You’re ARTHUR?” Trevor’s voice could probably heard in St. James’ Park.

Eggsy caught Annabell’s eye and saw her nod. He gave her a wink.

“Obviously,” Eggsy’s accent was cut crystal. “But you are right, I’m sleeping with Merlin. We’ve been married for three years.”

There was a long pause and then Jessica said, “Congratulations.”

Eggsy smiled at her. “Thank you, Jessica. Now, I have a meeting this morning, but I’ll be back to run the course with you this afternoon.”

“Yeah, in something comfortable,” Trevor said.

“I’ll run it in this, if you like.” He nodded to them all and said, “This afternoon, Merlin.”

“Yes, sir.”

They heard Eggsy board the underground transport with two other people and then heard the capsule shoot back toward the tailor shop.

Gurdip said, “You call him, sir?”

“When he’s Arthur, of course I do. Mind you, I called him sir as Beaumains as well. Now the authority matches the title.”

“But, but… you said he lived on that estate.”

Merlin smiled. “A good friend of ours used to quote Hemingway, ‘There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.’ Now then, ladies and gentlemen, let’s review your feeds from the estate run.”

***  
By the time the afternoon run was over, the raters had approved letting both Jonathan and Patricia go. Her hanging back could be deadly in the field, not just for herself, but for others. Jonathan had indeed shot the little girl again.

Eggsy made Jonathan an offer for a position with Nimue’s development team which was turned down. Patricia accepted her offer of a logistics position in Mombasa. He decided to have Dinadan and Galahad both meet her before she took up the posting.

Once those duties were complete, Merlin called Elaine and told her she was on her own with the children before hauling his husband up to their rooms at headquarters. They came down for a staff supper in the breakfast nook before having a nightcap in the library in front of a small fire. 

“I wish your classes didn’t start again next week. I could use the help with the driving classes.”

Eggsy smiled at his husband. “Not true. You just want to see if you can beat my track record in front of me.”

“Well, a little bit. I’m just worried that if I don’t let Trevor try it, whether or not he’s good enough, there will be trouble.”

“Y’know, I never thought I’d agree with Chester King about anything, but… You’re Merlin. You can have him out on his ear for using the wrong spoon for dessert or not being neat enough when jointing a carcass. I’d rather you did than that we end up with someone who has a permanent sneer on his face because I grew up on a council estate.”

Merlin poured them both a whisky and said, “If he weren’t Erec’s candidate, I would, but we can’t have anyone saying we’re loading the dice -- especially since cronyism is a large part of what you fought against.”

Eggsy nodded and sipped his Talisker. “That’s more than a fair point, my love. If he wins fair and square, then we’ll deal with it. I hope, for Caradoc’s sake, that Annabell takes it.”

“She and Jessica are in my top three. Bennett and Trevor vie for the third of the three.”

“So, those are the top four?”

“Yes, but we always rank by threes.”

“Gurdip?”

“He has an outside chance at top three if any of the others really blot their copybooks over the next couple of tests. Based on his background, I think he has a good shot at taking the top space in the orienteering unit. James has never been at the very top or the very bottom of anything until now. Not that he was in the bottom for the unit, but he’s last overall in the rankings.”

“So unless a particular talent shines through, he’ll be out soon, maybe before the HALO drop.”

Merlin just nodded. “On the plus side of the ledger, we’ll have one of the shortest training groups ever.”

“Good, I want you home more often than Friday nights. Daisy misses you, too.”

“It’s not like we aren’t finding plenty of time for a full and vigorous sex life,” Merlin said.

Eggsy grinned at him. “True, but as much fun as having to grab nooners when we both have a free moment is, I still prefer taking my time with you in a great big bed.”

“ _Mo chridhe._ ”

“Let’s go back upstairs, my lover, before anyone can think of work for us to do.”

Merlin just rose and held out his hand.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've made it to the seduction unit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This begins about a month after the previous chapter ends.

It had been a rough fortnight for both of them. Eggsy had been in Moscow and Osh before quietly meeting up with Sagramore in Lucknow, then with Galahad in Jordan. The Lucknow business had been nasty, and Merlin had been on comms for twenty four hours while they wrapped up the drug trade and got their hands on the cesium Eggsy had traced from Kyrgyzstan. 

After a joyful homecoming in their rooms at Headquarters, Merlin stroked his husband’s back. “I passed out the notebooks last night.”

“Daisy needed more for school?”

Merlin laughed softly against Eggsy’s neck. “No, _mo chridhe_ , to the candidates.”

“The seduction unit already?”

“Mmm. Don’t be surprised if Annabell or Jessica or both together make a pass at you. One or two of the boys might try it, too, but right now they’re all insisting they’re rampantly heterosexual.”

“From some of the parties I been to with Roxy, I’m pretty sure half a bottle of champagne changes that.”

Merlin chuckled. “One of the questions they had when I distributed the books was about honey traps. Did people only get assigned to their preferred sex, things like that.”

Eggsy turned in his arms and said, “I take it my name came up.”

“Something about a fag not getting it up with a woman… it got messy.”

“Sounds like it. And?”

“They’re on an all night hike with one of the other raters.”

Eggsy said, “I wondered how you could meet my plane and stay with me all night.”

“I pointed out that bisexual would be the best fit in some ways, but a knight usually wasn’t asked to break marriage vows and mostly there were backups if someone felt the mark wouldn’t be someone he or she would respond to.”

“Like Galahad and the ‘wolf’ business.”

“Exactly. I got into a rhythm of answering questions and Jessica asked about you and I answered ‘pansexual’ without thinking.

“How’s she doin’ in interrogation?”

“Highest marks in the class for that unit. It put her into the top three for the first time.”

Eggsy shook his head. “The great Merlin taken in by one of the oldest interrogation techniques in the book.”

“Don’t make it sound like I need to buy a zimmer frame just yet.”

“Never, my lover,” Eggsy kissed him deeply.

Merlin sighed when it ended then pulled him close. “I want you to consider it.” He felt Eggsy’s muscles tense to pull away, but began massaging small circles into his back until he relaxed.

“I like bein’ faithful to my husband. Honey traps is one thing, but I ain’t cheatin’ just for sport.”

“I know. Each class has its own quirks when it comes to sex. Oh, and very few of the candidates admit their fetishes.”

“I don’t think I put any down.”

“You didn’t. Other than you liked them fit and maybe a little older. We’ve been lovers for nearly five years, and I think that’s absolutely accurate. I’ve seen you do BDSM scenes with marks, for instance, but I haven’t found anything that’s a need for you.”

“My philosophy is, If it feels good, do it as long as it don’t involve kids, animals, or the unwilling. If you don’t know whether it feels good, try it once so you’ll know. Same caveats.”

Merlin kissed him. “Exactly. You like sex as long as everyone involved is consenting.”

“Yeah. It’s the one thing that bothers me about honey traps. The other side ain’t givin’ real consent.”

“There may be an ulterior motive to bedding them, but I don’t think there’s a knight out there who doesn’t wait for the other party to make the first move.”

Eggsy nodded. “None of which has anything to do with the candidates trying it on with Arthur.”

“Some of them may have power fetishes. You’re definitely top of the Kingsman totem pole. That you’re handsome and young is just a little enhancement.”

“Merlin…”

“It comes down to your background at least in part.”

“As a chav or a prossie?”

Merlin said, “I can feel you getting angry. Do we need to put clothes on to finish this conversation?”

Eggsy took a couple of deep breaths. “If I say yes…”

“I won’t take it the wrong way. As long as we can have another nice fuck before the candidates return and my day officially starts.” He kissed Eggsy lightly and got out of bed. The both put on trousers and went to sit in the chairs by the fireplace.

“First things first, I meant that your background is very different from everyone else’s. You’re still the only one I know who became a knight without a university degree, and this group is all upper middle class or gentry to boot. They need to know how to approach someone who’s outside their expectations.”

“Galahad has a university degree?”

“Started it through Open University, but he’d completed it at Birkbeck College just before you approached him to join Kingsman.”

“Great. I’ve only got two years to go to be equal to the rest of the table, providing I pass.”

“Barring concussion, I would be shocked if you didn’t graduate with high honors or whatever the LSE does.”

Eggsy leaned back in his chair and nodded. Merlin noted that he looked exhausted. 

“I didn’t mean to offend you by suggesting it, _mo chridhe_. I also don’t mean that I expect you to need to sleep with women or whatever. I know that if you feel the urge, you’ll tell me first and we’ll figure it out from there. I just want you… I don’t want you to say no just because you’re married. I certainly recognized the value of the seduction unit after I completed it. Did you?”

“Prolly not the same way. I mean I loved bein’ able to fuck. There’s no easy way to have a quiet wank when you’re in the dorm an’ I never been much of one for public masturbation.” He thought for a moment. “Though in fairness, I been paid to do that on more ‘an one occasion. Don’t really feel that it taught me anythin’ new. Wait. Take that back, the woman who talked about how menopause changed things, that was new and good information.”

“All right. I found it a great deal more freeing. I’d already accepted that I was homosexual, but being free to make discreet approaches -- hell, having a threesome with two women -- taught me more about self acceptance, but it also taught me more about others. There was one man I seduced, he died about five years before your cohort, he’d lost his legs in a motorcycle accident. He taught me a lot about how to touch, and, in his case, I gave him confidence, too.”

Eggsy said, “Feel like we’re not talkin’ about the current crop much.”

“I think this group has more to learn about social interactions than the Lancelot or Galahad groups did. They’re not as diverse, for one thing. It’s as if you hadn’t been part of the Lancelot cohort. I think they could benefit from learning how to be generous in bed and amazingly discreet. You teach that without even trying.”

“Some of it’s natural, but some was learned on me knees for punters and that makes it emotionally awkward, more so than the honey traps. With honey traps I can feel like it’s for a higher cause. Best I can say is ‘I’ll think about it and I’ll turn my glasses to record if any of them approaches me.’”

Merlin came over and knelt by Eggsy’s chair. “I won’t ask for more, my husband.” He rested his head against Eggsy’s thigh. 

Eggsy bent down for a long sweet kiss. “Come back to bed. I got a promise to keep.”

***  
A few days later, Annabell and Jessica knocked on Eggsy’s door in the shop. He minimized the camera feed outside his door before hitting record on his glasses and saying, “Come in.”

“We hope you don’t mind, but we wanted to see what Arthur’s office looked like,” Annabell had a faint blush which Eggsy admitted was very fetching. 

Eggsy said, “Find it impressive?”

Jessica glanced around. “It’s much smaller than I thought.”

“Most of the other knights who have offices here rather than as part of their rooms at headquarters, have larger ones than this. Kay and Dinadan are using the office of a former Arthur while they complete their studies before deployment. Fact is, Arthur usually uses the dining room for meetings and big projects, so I didn’t feel the need to take the big office.” He’d motioned them to sofa and sat in a chair near them. “Shall I call downstairs for tea?”

“Well, um…” Jessica said.

“That would be lovely. We don’t get much of the nicer things in life right now,” Annabell said.

Eggsy rang for tea and began a light conversation about their training and interests. After it arrived and everyone had a cup, he said, “So, why did you ladies seek me out today?”

He watched them communicate silently for a moment as he nibbled on a finger sandwich. 

Finally, Annabell said, “We’re on the seduction unit at the moment, and we thought we’d see if you might be interested in one or the other of us. Or both together.” She smiled impishly. “Have you had a threesome?”

Eggsy took a sip of tea as he tried not to laugh. “Had me first threesome before I was legal. Honestly, they’re usually a bit awkward. Someone always ends up with a limb trapped at some point.”

Jessica choked on her tea and Annabell’s eyes went wide.

After a moment, Jessica said, “Have you… I mean… three … with women?”

“Yes, love. Sorry, old bad habit. Should probably go with somethin’ more like, ‘yes, dear girl.’” He said the last in perfect received pronunciation and Annabell giggled.

She said, “I guess we’ve made a hash of this.”

Eggsy smiled at them both. “No, at least not in my book. In another office, it would be harassment, but everyone at Kingsman knows about the seduction unit. You asked straightforwardly, and I’m reasonably sure that if I’d pointed at one of you and said, ‘Let’s have a go,’ you would have been genuinely willing.”

“So there’s still a chance?” Jessica asked.

“Not in the slightest.”

“Not even if I tell you I’m into older men?” She sounded a bit amused herself.

“I don’t think two years counts as older. Annabell… six years probably just about counts.”

Both girls blinked. 

Eggsy smiled and said, “I’ve been a knight unofficially and later officially since Valentine’s Day, six years ago. I hope neither of you were either hurt or hurt anyone else during it.”

“Afterward, I was very relieved my boarding school forbade mobiles,” Annabell said. “We were far enough away from a major city that no one at school was affected.”

“I was at uni, but I didn’t do more than smash some of my classmates’ computers. Got pushed down an ancient staircase, but came away with nothing worse than a fractured wrist and a concussion. I was so lucky. Some of the sculls… ”

“C’n imagine,” Eggsy said. “I was twenty-two when I was finally given the name Beaumains.”

“You’re not even thirty?” Jessica said. “I think my last boyfriend was older than you.”

He chuckled. “Don’t forget, I appreciate older men, too. Wouldn’t be married to Merlin if I didn’t.” He put down his cup and said, “I turned you down for two reasons. The first is more important to me personally, but probably least important to anyone else and that is: I’m completely in love with my husband. But I want you both to think about the other reason: how could I be as impartial as I need to be with the knights under me if that knight has literally been under me.”

Annabell giggled at his phrasing before saying, “But you’ve done honey traps with Lancelot.”

“And we tried it on with each other during _our_ seduction unit, when neither of us was in any type of relationship. We’re good mates, but that’s because we went through our training together. Also, I ask Merlin to call me out if he thinks I’m favoring her in any way because we have a history. You both seem like lovely women, but as much fun as making use of that couch might be, I don’t have the history or connection with you. And I’m still stupidly in love with Merlin which definitely takes me out of the running.”

“Will you tell him about this?” For the first time since she came in the room Annabell seemed anxious rather than just nervous.

“‘Course I will. All your partners are reporting to him. But I’d tell him anyway because…”

“He’s your husband,” they said in nearly perfect unison.

“You’re learnin’. If you haven’t already got there, there’s a whole segment on how to tell if it’s worth tryin’ it on with someone who’s married. I suggest you pay close attention.” He let them finish their tea and petit fours before escorting them to the door. “Have a good afternoon, ladies.”

***  
“Did you see my meetin’ with Jessica and Annabell?”

“I did. You kept it from being too awkward. Of course, I couldn’t watch it live.”

“Somethin’ come up? Anything I need to know?”

“Bennett made a much more awkward pass at me than those two women did with you.”

“Bennett’s the Asian one?”

Merlin raised an eyebrow then said, “Yes, his family came out of Hong Kong before it reverted to China.”

“Did he offer a threesome?”

“In that he offered to join us. I almost said ‘yes’ just to see if he’d faint. He definitely wasn’t interested, unlike your two, I don’t even think he’s interested in men.”

Eggsy shook his head. “Anyone ever washed out on seduction?”

“There was a cohort in the mid-seventies... The Merlin of the time ejected a candidate for rape.”

“Can I hope ‘ejected’ was from a cannon?”

Merlin shook his head. “No, but about two months after the Met released him without charge, he died in a car crash. Apparently, he’d run over something sharp and managed to slice his own brake lines.”

“I can’t find it in me to be sorry about that.”

“No, well, I’ll give you the whole file if you like. The Arthur of the time didn’t even consider the more permanent solution until his history with twelve year olds came to light.”

Eggsy said, “With me own history, I can’t even pretend to be surprised.”

Merlin poured them each a cup of tea. “Darjeeling is all I have here.”

“It’s fine, my love. Don’t suppose Trevor has anything unsavory in his past?”

“No, but he’s like Charlie.”

Eggsy looked at Merlin inquiringly. 

“I remember a conversation with Harry -- he was very pleased with how discreet and happy your conquests were, by the way -- where I said something like ‘Charlie propositioned every woman but the Lady, and he might try it with her.’”

Eggsy laughed. “God help him if he did.”

“The only reason we’re sure he didn’t is that he managed to live to the final three.”

“And then Valentine’s Day. Such a waste.”

“I always thought he might be a bit taken with you. Acting out because he didn’t want to be attracted.”

Eggsy said, “Had a couple moments when I thought that, too, but didn’t want to flatter myself. Might even have said yes if he’d asked just to see if it would shut him up.”

“You never struck me as the type for hate sex.”

“‘M not, really, and by the time he called me a ‘shit that wouldn’t flush,’ I wouldn’t have touched him with someone else’s cock.”

“Roxy came down to talk to me about her travel next week just as Bennett was leaving. She suggested showing her glasses footage of our naked fight. She thought it would satisfy any curiosity people had.”

“You askin’ permission?”

Merlin sipped his tea. “Not really, but if it becomes necessary, would you be willing to participate in one?”

“Why?”

“This group has good reflexes, but they aren’t willing to convert objects into tools for fighting.”

“I think a Jackie Chan film festival might help more with that.”

Merlin chuckled. “I’ll definitely add a few to their DVD library, but it was more seeing what it was like to fight with nothing at all.”

“They learnin’ knife fighting?”

“Most of them had at least some proficiency with knives and the rest have come up to speed. They can mostly handle unarmed combat, too. It’s the hesitation they have going from armed to unarmed -- if one of them disarms the other, the fight’s over right that moment because the one without the knife or the gun or whichever one we’re practicing with freezes and can’t switch fighting modes.”

“Let me watch the tapes for myself. If they’re that bad, then I’ll definitely sanction a round-robin for them like we had with Daya and Van. And if you think they need a good example, I’ll come down and do some demonstration fights with you. Fully clothed.”

“Sounds fair. Let me know what you think after you’ve watched the footage.” Merlin kissed him. “Now get to class. When you get home to the kids, tell them I’ll see them Friday.”

“Will do. Daisy said to tell you she needs some help with her math homework.”

“Tell her I look forward to seeing it. Kiss them for me.”

“I will, my love. Now I’d best go or I’ll be late to the lecture. We’re covering monopolies and oligopolies.”

“Sounds thrilling.”

“Says the man with a doctorate in number theory.” Eggsy leaned down for one last kiss and ran to the pod back to the shop.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They disagree at the office. There are no explosions, but it's a near thing.

“If you’d please stay, Merlin. Meeting adjourned,” Eggsy said. His eyes were locked on his husband’s and he noted how quickly everyone else cleared the dining room. Usually, someone stayed to bring up an idea that wasn’t fleshed out enough for the meeting or even just to have another finger sandwich, today he was certain he saw puffs of smoke at their heels.

As soon as the door closed, a white-lipped Merlin said, “How dare you undermine my authority.”

Eggsy resisted every instinct to placate him and stayed seated at the head of the table. “How did I do that?”

“You implied, came damned close to stating, that I was past it.”

Eggsy took a deep breath. “You can either sit back down where you are or take the usual chair for Beaumains or Lancelot. _**Or**_ you can go back to headquarters and run the obstacle course and we’ll have this meeting later.”

Merlin gripped the table for an instant and then slowly sat back down.

“First of all,” Eggsy began, “I’m now your boss. No matter how much you’ve always said that the table was over you, in practice, you’ve only given full deference to Arthur. I’m not going to wreck our marriage over this, so let me make a one time offer: I’ll step down as Arthur, which would mean stepping down from the table, too. There’s no open code name, an’ I ain’t playin’ pass the parcel with knight’s names again. They can elect a new Arthur and the top two in this group can come to the table.”

Merlin deflated a bit. He closed his eyes and took a few moments to compose himself. Finally, he moved up to Beaumains seat and said, “No. I don’t want you to resign from Kingsman.”

“Never said nothin’ ‘bout resignin’ from Kingsman. If I step down, it will be in the role you an’ Harry an’ Chester were considerin’ me for: trainin’ to be your replacement.”

Merlin sat back in the chair and said, “The worst part is the table would probably approve that.” He shook his head. “No, the worst part is that I’m tempted.”

Eggsy leaned forward and took his hand. “Vivienne an’ I talked a bit about how workin’ with a spouse could cause problems. She was amazed that nothin’ had really come up for us. But now… I’m serious. Our marriage is more important to me.”

“Than the fate of the world?” Merlin said. “I don’t believe that. You wouldn’t be the man I married if you did. But thank you for valuing it so highly. I… you shouldn’t have blindsided me.”

“Didn’t think it would. Even if I had thought it through and come to the conclusion that you’d have an issue, if I’m Arthur, I have to use my best judgment. An’ Merlin, I can’t be seen to be under your thumb.”

Merlin squeezed his hand. “It’s just…”

“You’ve been doin’ everything. I’ve seen it. I’ve read through the official year diaries of past Merlins, you know. They had looser reins. That let other problems fester. I’m glad you know what’s goin’ on down to the last microcircuit. It shows that you’re a good commander. But everyone has mentioned that we need a replacement Merlin, not to dispossess you, but to ensure continuity should anything happen.”

“I know. It’s my own policy. And when I came back from my paternity leave, I found that everything ran like clockwork, even the little changes you made. I don’t think I’ve changed anything back.”

“Other than you bein’ the primary on comms day an’ night for every single knight includin’ Arthur.”

Merlin began to say something and then nodded. “You’re right. I went right back to working from the comms station rather than my office.”

“Nothin’ wrong with that, especially while we got trainees.” Eggsy leaned back and smiled. “You haven’t said whether you’re taking me up on my offer.”

Merlin sat straight up. “In my opinion, sir, you are an excellent Arthur and should remain in that position.”

Eggsy’s voice was merely a whisper. “Thank you.”

There was a long pause before Eggsy said, “Shall I request more tea?”

Merlin said, “For your office. I think discussing things there will, oddly enough, feel more neutral.”

“Gotta admit, I find the dinin’ room a bit creepy.”

“You know, once Ezra and Julia are deployed to their home bases, you can take over the big office. Set it up any way you like, redecorate if you like.”

“Why?”

Merlin said, “Because you can fit a table large enough to hold at least six in one part of the office and still have space for your desk and whatever else you deem necessary.”

“Top o’ the line sound system would be nice.”

Merlin laughed. “If it’s out of your own pocket, even that.”

***  
Half an hour later they were sitting in the small area Eggsy had for informal meetings, sipping Merlin’s favorite tea blend. “We ready to talk,” Eggsy asked.

Merlin nodded. “I have a suggestion for your secretary.”

“Do I need one?”

“Just as you’ve done my job, I’ve done yours. Yes, Arthur needs a secretary. Lily worked with me right after V-day. She was excellent at the job.”

“Isn’t she a rising star in Logistics?”

“She is, and she may not want the position. The woman Paul hired was good, but when she retired Caradoc left the job open. You need to fill it. If Lily says no, or you don’t want her for some reason, then you need to figure out how to get the position filled. It’s important, at least partially because it reflects _your_ importance. Answering your own phone within Kingsman is fine. Answering your own phone when the Foreign office calls isn’t.”

“Ask Lily if she wants to go back to playin’ Moneypenny. If she doesn’t let’s talk about the right way to hire a very confidential secretary.”

Merlin nodded and took out a small notebook. “Now then as to your other items…”

“Can’t imagine my suggestin’ that we work more with obsidian and porcelains got your back up.”

“No. The main reason we don’t have an entire range of porcelain weapons is because Chester kept vetoing the research. Vivienne and Arthur ....”

“I love the way they adapted our existing tech for Lancelot and Sagramore’s needs. Now that it looks like we could end up with four women at the table, we can probably stop hand polishing every single piece of ‘girl tech,’ as Roxy calls it.”

“Their jewelry needs may still need some of that hand polishing, but you’re right, with Kay coming to the table and Jessica and Anabell looking like our top two, we can start manufacturing some of the more disposable items.”

Eggsy said, “I know it wasn’t just suggestin’ you need to have a designated replacement that got you worked up in the meeting. For heaven’s sake, that’s your own fuckin’ policy.”

“It was the suggestion to create a fourth subdepartment, taking training away from the Merlin position.”

“I knew it would be a big item for discussion, but I didn’t think it would be, well, whatever it nearly turned into back there.”

Merlin chuckled. “The thing is, if we weren’t married, and that ended up in a fist fight, it wouldn’t have been such a bad thing. The department heads don’t get to see the standard of fitness we train to.”

“All right,” Eggsy said, pulling out his own notebook, “that’s a discussion that we all need to have. Don’t the departments have fitness requirements?”

“Yes and no. There are some jobs in logistics which require a fitness standard, like Jamal’s driver position. They get weapons training and have a minimum physical standard, too. Most of the testers in R and D, as Jamal is now, also have a fitness standard. Anyone at a listening post or storage unit, needs to be able to run a ten minute mile carrying twenty-five pounds, and we have them carry it in their hands.” He held his hands in front of himself like he was carrying a box.

“An’ we check them regularly?”

“If they’re not pregnant, yes. And I say that because our listening posts and intelligence centers skew heavily female. Once they’re off maternity leave, they have to make the standard again. But no, we don’t require it of the average person who works here. The cooks or the analysts at headquarters or even the average R and D person doesn’t need to meet a fitness standard, or a weapons standard for that matter.”

“That needs to come up again, I think.”

Merlin said, “The Lady would never be able to run a ten minute mile, much less carry twenty-five pounds while doing it.”

“That’s not what I’m thinkin’.” He leaned back in his chair. “What’s the evacuation plan for headquarters? For the shop?”

“For the shop, it’s get down to the level of the bullet train. It’s deep enough to protect from anything short of a nuclear weapon up here. There’s egress, even if it’s a maximum of 8 people at a time. It’s reinforced, and it’s hidden.”

“So if both are attacked at the same time?”

“Using the bunkers at headquarters if we haven’t had sufficient lead time to get everyone out. As far as getting everyone out, we’ve set up areas for self driving cars to take four people at a time. Because it’s self driving, it’s quicker than you’d think. Plus the bunkers, of course.”

“No one’s put together self driving char-a-bancs? Or double deckers?”

Merlin just stared at him. “I think those were considered too plebeian.”

“Can’t be that difficult given our tech, can it?”

“You’d be surprised what difficulties changing scale can bring, but it’s certainly worth asking R and D if they’ve ever attempted it.”

“An’ puttin’ a flea in their ear if they haven’t.”

Merlin said, “Could we do this?”

“This?”

“Meet in your office, Merlin and Arthur, once a week to talk these things over. Before the weekly departmental meetings.”

Eggsy said, “You don’t think that would worry people? 

“In what way?”

“We’re married. The two most powerful people at Kingsman are married to each other. I don’t want anyone thinking we’re running our own fiefdom.”

Merlin let out a deep breath. “Is that why you didn’t talk to me about your suggestion at home? Part of why I was so angry was that you’d so obviously thought so much of it through without talking to me -- as the title, not as your husband.”

Eggsy smiled a little. “These conversations would be easier if your title weren’t your nickname. I need to be seen as my own man, especially during the first year, especially when I’m bringing in what could be a big change.”

“Of course. I understand that. Which is why a formally scheduled meeting once a week or fortnightly or whatever would be the right way to go. We can always call someone to join us if we need to tease out the problem. Your secretary could be there to take official minutes.”

“So no using my wiles to get you on my side?”

Merlin grinned. “We can always send the secretary away if wiles come into it.”

“All right. We’ll schedule the first meeting for next Tuesday at eleven, that way, if we need an extra hour we can work through lunch before I need to leave for my social policy lecture. Items on the agenda, adding a fourth department -- a dedicated training department -- and fitness standards for the entire organization. If there’s time, we’ll put together some basic suggestions for evacuation plans to be brought to the next general meeting.”

“Which will be on Thursday of next week.”

Eggsy shook his head. “I said when I began having the meetings weekly that once I had my feet under me, they could go back to monthly. Let’s set them back to monthly, unless you think we need to have next week’s first?”

“That’s probably better, but let’s postpone the discussion of an evacuation plan until two months from now?”

“Why?”

Merlin said, “I’m not saying don’t bring it up next Thursday, but we’re going to need to review everything we currently have in place, and that’s going to take time on top of all the other work. Once the Caradoc class is complete, it will be easier.”

“You think they’ll be done in two months?”

“Hard to tell right now. I’d also suggest that we add a review of how the candidates are doing in the departments at next week’s meeting.”

“Send out the memo when you get back to headquarters. I’d hate to spring it on them unprepared. And tell them mummy and daddy have stopped fighting, and we still love them.”

Merlin laughed. “Last thing, _mo chridhe,_ Jessica might not be bad as a Merlin trainee. I don’t think she’s in your league for natural talent, but her education bolsters her.”

“You don’t seem entirely happy with that assessment.”

“It’s never been done before, but what do you think of the new training department getting it’s feet wet by setting up an elimination training, similar to the one for the knights, for a new Merlin?”

“Add it as a subheading on the agenda for Thursday.” 

They both stood and Merlin kissed his husband. “I’m sorry I got so angry.”

“I’m sorry that I bollixed things up. Now let me get back to my essay on education policy in the EU.”

After a quick last kiss, Merlin headed back to headquarters.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another talky chapter. Myfanwy, the Lady of the Lake, isn't certain that she can handle a fitness test. Eggsy reassures her.

“I’ll stay after if I may, Arthur?”

“Of course, Lady. Shall we go to my office?”

She thought for a moment. “Certainly.”

They headed down the hallway to Eggsy’s office. He nodded to his secretary to bring tea and sandwiches. 

After a few moments of chitchat, the tea and sandwiches were put on the table. “Would you like Rose to stay and take notes?”

The Lady shook her head. “No need, lad.”

“Take lunch. If it’s going to be more than two hours, let me know. And if Peter is with you, let Merlin know.”

Rose blinked at him. “I thought we were more discreet.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s very cute.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be back in time to listen in on your conference call.”

“Glad to hear it.” 

She shut the door behind her and the Lady said, “Do you want me out?”

“Good lord, no! Why would you think that?”

“This fitness requirement. I’m not going to make it. I can’t run with the cane and even if I could, I’d slow others down, maybe trip them.”

Eggsy bit into his roast beef sandwich to give himself time to think. When he finished chewing, he said, “I didn’t explain it right. For some people, there’s going to be a running or in the case of the ones in wheelchairs, spinning requirement just in case we need to evacuate. We want to know who -- other than the knights and some of the more active drivers -- is that fit. For those who don’t hit that level, then there are options, one of which is to be part of the defense team for headquarters or the shop. Our main concern, concerns I should say, are that people aren’t going home, taking time off, all the things that help keep us sane. We want everyone who works here to be healthy. Your fitness test isn’t going to be running. We know you can’t run. But Merlin tells me you swim well.”

“It’s been awhile, but yes, I like swimming and do it well.”

“There you have it, then. No one is going to be tested tomorrow. The announcements will go out and everyone has six months to get to the mark. If someone misses it, then they have another three months to practice and try again. Judith in Morgana’s sector, she needs to lose weight and build up to a basic fitness level. She’ll have a year as long as she works at it. No one’s going to monitor what she eats.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because it’s required of our people overseas in case of emergency evacuation. We need to standardize throughout. But there are enough health studies out there which show exercise is helpful for mental acuity and fights depression. We rely on everyone’s mental abilities, and depression is a serious issue among us.”

“Including you, lad,” the Lady asked.

“Yes. More so now that I’m making more of the decisions. Myfanwy, if you don’t want to do this, then I’ll finagle it for awhile or you can retire. Heaven knows it wouldn’t be early retirement in your case, and God knows we can afford a golden, no platinum, parachute for someone with nearly fifty years of service. We can find another role for you, if you like, but I think this initiative is important, and might be a good way to get the new training team up to snuff -- make certain we have the right people for it.”

“I’ll start swearing in Welsh if you mention retirement again. If I can’t swim forty lengths in twenty minutes at the end of six months, we’ll discuss whether I need to take another role at Kingsman.”

She finished the last bite of her sandwich and washed it down with some tea. “May I make a suggestion? I nearly brought it up in the meeting, but I was worried that you were trying to get rid of the oldsters.”

“That’s part of the argument Merlin and I had last week. He thought I was implying he was past it with the new training team. I seem to have been completely kackhanded all around.”

“Perhaps, but is my suggestion welcome?”

“Always, Myfanwy.”

“Shooting lessons for the people who don’t know how, too. If we’re needing to get out quickly, we may need to defend. I keep up my standings with a Kingsman pistol, but I don’t think anyone in my department who isn’t a driver would know which end of a gun to pick up.”

“I like it. Though… some people just aren’t wired to fire at another human being. I know you’ve had your share of hair’s breadth escapes, but not everyone will be…”

“No, they won’t so their role will be to carry files or whatever. Those of us who don’t mind taking a headshot can defend their exit. But everyone should still know basic gun safety and how to use one.”

“All right. I want your advice on something.”

The Lady looked at him and said, “It’s not to do with Merlin, because marriage counseling is out of my purview.”

“It’s nothing to do with Merlin the person, but everything to do with Merlin the position.”

“Go ahead, lad.”

“First question: do we put together the training team first or find a back up for Merlin first?”

 

“Training team. If anyone on that team wants to apply for Merlin’s second, then God have mercy on their souls.”

Eggsy nodded. “Then I have two follow-up questions, do we let the department heads and/or the knights invite people they think might be good as Merlin -- from within at least for our first attempt. I’m not suggesting the kind of thing we do for a new knight, not at that stage.”

“Is Merlin doing the training? How are you setting it up?”

“Not sure yet,” Eggsy said. “I was thinkin’ that we could get all the internal candidates here for a week and run them through some personality and psychological tests, give them the time to decide if it’s for them before beginning the real training.”

“It’s not a bad idea, but the reason that I asked about Merlin is that I don’t want there to be any bias. If he suggests someone for the role, he might, unconsciously because he’s a fair man, lean toward that choice.”

“The best answer I can give is that I won’t let Merlin be the sole or final rater for any part of the training. If you like, when we get down to the last three it can be the Witches and me making the decision.”

The Lady nodded and said, “Then to answer your first question, yes, let each of the department heads make up to two suggestions, same for you and Merlin, before opening it up to the whole agency.”

“And the knights?”

“Can go hang. The last few classes have been pretty good, but don’t think I don’t notice that yours and Roxie’s people keep getting to the end. You’re bringing a different set of ideas to your choices and that’s been good news for us as an organization. Let those of us who understand the job, and I’d throw in Allen our head tailor as one of the people to make the recommendations, let us have the first try,” the Lady said.

“Does that mean that I shouldn’t have a horse in the race?”

The Lady took the question seriously. “If there’s someone you think should be nominated that the rest of us don’t select, then add him or her. But frankly, I think Merlin will probably nominate anyone you might. The two of you think alike.”

Eggsy smiled at her warmly. “Well, let’s get the call out for the training team, then. I’ll have Rose send out the fitness email by the end of next week. I may have you run an eye over it to make certain no one will panic.”

“I’ll have a shufti if you want, young Eggsy. Arthur.”

“Does it bother you that I’m Arthur?”

The Lady goggled at him for a moment. “Honestly, I think it’s one of the few truly sensible things the table has done. I will say that you probably need to take a few assignments, just to keep your hand in, but you worked harder than I can remember any candidate doing when you were under my auspices. You ask the right questions, and I cannot remember Chester ever asking a question, even when he was Tristan. As long as you stay on the same path, I think you’ll be brilliant at it.”

“It’s appreciated, Lady.” 

He stood and offered her a hand up. She took it with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More meetings. Sorry.

It gave Eggsy genuine pleasure to be the first person to call Annabell by the code name Caradoc. 

He also quietly asked Jessica if she might be interested in another position at a later point. 

“Is it competitive?”

“Yes.”

Jessica thought for a moment. “I’ll stay in London -- or at least be easily reachable for the next eighteen months. If I haven’t heard by then…”

“No need to say more,” Eggsy said.

“And Arthur? I will be free to turn it down, won’t I?”

“Of course. No one should work for Kingsman who isn’t all right with its mission.”

Jessica said, “It’s not that. I know my brother met someone, fell in love, married, and had a child on the way in an eighteen month period. I just wanted to know that if my life changed drastically I wouldn’t have Kingsman angry with me.”

“No, you wouldn’t. But you should also bear in mind that we have an excellent family leave policy.”

She laughed freely and said, “I will. Thank you, Eggsy -- Arthur.”

He escorted her to a taxi and watched her drive away from headquarters.

***   
The next three months saw the department heads proposing and discussing the boundaries of the training team. The knights had already approved the formation of a team and would need to ratify the requirements once they were decided.

There was a certain amount of hubbub around the table in Eggsy’s office, and he finally said, “Don’t make me get a gavel.”

The noise stopped. 

“If I understand the debate correctly, the question is whether everyone on the team is a generalist or a specialist. Nimue and Morgana are in favor of specialists and Merlin and the Lady are in favor of generalists. Did I miss anything?”

“No, Arthur,” Morgana said. 

“Then let’s discuss it like civilized people instead of devolving into a school playground. Myfanwy?”

“You’ve required a basic fitness standard and, honestly, it’s working better than I ever thought it would. Having seen the positive results, I think having the entire training team be able to cover for each other or in a department in time of deep trouble would be for the best.”

Eggsy nodded. “Fiona?”

“I understand the benefits, but frankly, my area needs people with well-defined specialties whether by language, area, or analytical discipline. I’m afraid that anyone up to my standard for my department won’t be able to meet a similar standard for another department.”

“Pandit?”

The newest department head just said, “Fiona’s stated the problem?”

“Merlin?”

“Cross training is essential if they’re going to train knights who need to be generalists.”

Eggsy said, “How large a team will we have? My original vision was a trainer and a team of six or seven people. Does that strike anyone as too large a group?”

There were general headshakes.

“Too small?”

That got him a long silence. “Don’t make me call on someone.”

“It’s just that it’s impossible to know until it’s formed,” Fiona said. The others made sounds of agreement.

“So we start with a team of seven, figure out which one to feed royal jelly, and then see how well they do training Merlin’s second?”

Merlin said, “No. We make offers to the people we’ve been talking about, at least ten people, but we can take fifteen, put them through six weeks of physical training, and weed out the ones who just won’t work. That should leave us with a full team which can then be educated on our training methods.”

“I’ll authorize ten. If they look like they could pose for a Hitler Youth poster, I’ll send them back.”

Myfanwy laughed. “No fear. The five who work for Kingsman are all genders and colors. I don’t think the other five are all pale either.”

Merlin said, “No, they’re not.”

Eggsy said, “All right. We begin with everyone meeting a high fitness and weapons standard. I want everyone on the team to have one deep specialty and be cross-trained to be a back-up for another specialty.”

“And the specialties are?” Merlin asked.

“My suggestions are each of our three departments, so Logistics, Analysis, and Research and Development. If it’s optimal to split those two in terms of specialty, that would be fine. That leaves us with firearms and other weaponry.”

Merlin nodded. “Analysis, yes. Splitting Research and Development as training specialties, yes, with Research including programming skills and Development including defensive arts.”

Eggsy nodded. “So that’s three.”

“Everyone thoroughly conversant with the fitness tools and all weaponry, that would cover Myfanwy’s and my objections, I believe.” Myfanwy nodded.

“I concur,” Eggsy said.

“The next specialty would be outdoorsmanship which would include orienteering, tracking, camouflage, and probably sniper training.”

Eggsy made a note on his pad.

“Each of them should also speak a foreign language, ideally different ones,” Merlin said

“Yeah, don’t want everyone speaking Eton French,” Eggsy said with a smile.

Fiona said, “The recent cohorts have been decent but I was here at the tag end of the previous Lancelot cohort and we’d have been lucky to have Eton French.”

“You knew me dad?” 

“Knew? More like knew of. I wasn’t hired until after they’d both passed the train tracks test.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to go off topic,” Eggsy said.

“So that’s four,” Merlin said, “Then one of the others should be driving. Most of the cohorts have been somewhat lacking in that. Yours excepted, of course.”

Eggsy said, “Five. I notice you didn’t include parkour in the outdoorsmanship section.”

“I have another idea for that,” Merlin said. “I’d want whoever’s in charge of the team to be conversant on comms at least until my second’s been found.”

“All right. So our last one would be?”

Merlin winced, “Seduction. That would include etiquette, conversation, art, and music appreciation. We can teach someone the terms and biology if we have to, but charm -- the ability to woo -- is more difficult.”

“I volunteer to be the rater on that one,” Myfanwy said with some amusement. “If they can explain sexual function to a woman likely old enough to be their granny, they can face anything.”

Eggsy said, “I think we’ll have multiple raters on that, but I will certainly keep you in mind for the final exam.” He chuckled as he said it.

“You’re not married,” Fiona said to Myfanwy.

“No, never had the patience for it. Why?”

“I suppose,” Fiona said, “I’m surprised that none of the candidates has at least attempted to seduce you.”

“Who says they haven’t?” Myfanwy asked.

Merlin was reasonably certain he was the only one who caught the swift glance between her and Eggsy or his husband’s slight blush.

“To get us back on topic,” Eggsy said, “I have the following specialties listed: comms -- which we will probably leave to the department head -- seduction, driving, orienteering -- all of those, other than seduction come under logistics -- development, research, and analysis. Do we all agree?”

The small group all nodded. “How many do we have left on our list of potential candidates? Oh, and last time I checked we had six internal, not the five mentioned earlier.”

“May I speak to you after the meeting about that, sir?” Merlin asked.

“Of course.”

Fiona said, “All of the five internal candidates have a foreign language, though without testing we won’t know their proficiency levels. Of the twelve external candidates, only seven have foreign languages listed and one more is likely to be bilingual based on the age when he was brought to Britain from Croatia.”

“All right, take the others out of consideration, but see if they would be good for any of our departments. After all, we’ve already done the deep exploration necessary for clearance on all of them.”

“That leaves us with twelve. I don’t want to eliminate anyone from our internal candidates. Are there any external candidates that anyone is wavering about?”

Myfanwy pulled out a fit young man’s picture from the pile. “He’s our lowest score on the psychological evaluation and the highest on weapons. I admit the combination makes me uncomfortable.”

“Me, too,” Eggsy said. “Put him with the five that don’t have foreign languages.”

Pandit said, “Someone may turn us down. Having eleven would allow that without a huge imbalance.”

“All right, I’ll include this on our agenda for Friday’s meeting of the table. Be prepared to make offers the following Monday. Is there any other business today?”

No one wanted to say yes, so Eggsy called for an adjournment. “Please type up and distribute the notes, Rose.”

“Yes, sir.” She walked out of the office.

Merlin poured himself another cup of tea and grabbed half a ham sandwich. “Do you want anything?”

“Any potted shrimp left?”

“A half.” Merlin put it onto a plate and sat beside Eggsy. “You and Myfanwy.”

“You taught me to be a gentleman.”

“I don’t think the others noticed, but it’s not giving anything away to confirm it.”

Eggsy just said, “Told you I found the part on women’s responses after menopause interesting.”

“So you decided on a practicum?”

Eggsy’s cheeks pinked. “I assumed you already knew, since you said our partners reported on us. Wasn’t hiding anything.”

Merlin said, “It’s not that, _mo chridhe_. I was just so sure no one had ever succeeded with her. I know one or two who tried it during the current Tristan and Beaumains’ cohorts. There may have been some before I became Merlin. I never found it necessary to check.”

“What about the parkour?”

“Ah, change of subject. I want you to remain our expert for as long as you can. For one thing, Eggsy teaching them parkour gave us some insights we might not have gotten otherwise.”

“Okay. So, who was taken off the list of internal candidates?”

“Jamal.”

Eggsy said, “He’d have come off with the foreign language requirement anyway, I think, but why?”

“Because he’s one of my candidates to become my second. If he’s just competed for and gotten on to a new team, it might create a problem.”

There was a long pause. Eggsy said, “Do you think he’ll succeed in the competition to be your second?”

“You don’t?”

“You’re the most educated person working for Kingsman. I checked when I became Arthur. In addition, you meet a fitness standard in your late fifties that most men couldn’t match in their early twenties. Now I know Jamal is fit, but he doesn’t have your education, and, I know you think I’m pretty tender-hearted, but I’m pure steel compared to Jamal.”

Merlin leaned back in his chair. “I’m the one who pulled him from consideration for the training team. Let me talk to the others and see if I can reinstate him. We can give him some leeway on the language requirement if he agrees to start training on it now and he agrees to learn a language that Morgana thinks we need.”

Eggsy leaned back in his chair and thought hard. “Yes. Tell the Witches to talk to me with their decision, not you, though.”

“Fair enough.” Merlin swallowed the last of his tea. “See you at home.”

***   
Two people from outside Kingsman turned down the offer. Jamal said yes and immediately registered to learn Korean.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of training the training team.

Rather than ask the group to stand at attention, listen to a speech about danger, and fill-in the next of kin on a body bag, Eggsy asked the kitchen to prepare breakfast for twelve and set it up in the dining room at headquarters. The knights and department heads were instructed to use the breakfast room or the cafeteria. There was a cheerful fire burning in the fireplace, because it was chilly in spite of being late May, and the variety and quality of the food, as always, made Eggsy glad to be a Kingsman. 

The ten candidates for the training team had been told that their first meeting was a breakfast meeting and all of them showed up on time. Merlin came in a few minutes later, and once the chafing dishes were out, everyone filled a plate and returned to the table.

“Good morning, everyone. I hope those of you who are new had no trouble finding the estate?”

Five pairs of eyes turned to him with some shock and there were general murmurs of no.

“Good. Please continue eating while Merlin and I lay out Kingsman’s expectations. We have one or two more documents for you to sign, but you wouldn’t be in this room if you hadn’t already signed our confidentiality agreement. If anyone regrets his or her signature, say so. We’ll finish our breakfast and see you on your way before we begin the business part of the meeting.”

There was a long silence and a certain amount of glancing about, but no one seemed inclined to take Eggsy up on the offer.

Merlin said, “In that case, let me begin by welcoming all you. Kingsman has, for a long time, had three major departments each with a department head, known inside the organization as a witch, who reports to me. There are other departments, most of which report to one of the witches. The exception is medical which reports to Arthur first and Merlin -- me, for those of you who don’t know -- second.”

Eggsy buttered some toast and added, “There are ten knights, plus Arthur, who are the nominal reason for the organization. We are, essentially, a spy agency. Often we’re called in as auditors by other agencies, though there’s been less of that since V-day. Mostly, though, we pursue our own lines of inquiry. In some instances, we inform local authorities of our findings. In others, we do our work quickly and quietly to the point that no one remembers we were there.”

Jamal said, “So what’s this new team, Arthur?”

“Training. I hope we won’t need to train another knight anytime soon, but it’s become increasingly clear that keeping everyone in top shape -- and that’s meant in terms of intellect and skills as well as physical condition -- has become an organizational priority.”

Merlin added, “At least partially because our new Arthur is leading us in a slightly different direction.”

Eggsy grinned. “Am I? ‘S far as I’m concerned, I’m just applyin’ logic to long standin’ issues.”

Merlin matched his good humor. “Which is definitely a new direction.”

Eggsy took a sip of tea and continued. “Whatever. It is true that I’m encouraging a base level of physical fitness in all employees, not just the knights. There are others who need to have basic weapons skills, at the least. Our training system for drivers has been somewhat haphazard, and, having undergone two long periods of rehabilitation after wounds myself, I know that we need a better system integrating physical therapy into the emotional and mental recovery.”

Gemma, a woman just older than Eggsy and Jamal, said, “And you don’t see us as being part of the medical division?”

“No,” Merlin said. “In the past, I’ve put together the schedules and benchmarks for the knights. If we’re including everyone who works for the agency, then it’s going to need a new team.”

“An’ how’d you pick us?” Jezza was in his mid-thirties, but had a level of fitness a man ten years younger might envy.

“You’ve all been recommended by someone inside the organization who knew what we were looking for,” Eggsy said. “Some of you have been working for us for years. Others were known via other connections. You’ve all taken the basic physical and psychological evaluations -- that reduced your numbers by more than half. Then there were other tests we set -- which you didn’t know about -- which you also met or exceeded. At that point, we made the first round of offers and now here you are having signed non-disclosure agreements.”

“Generally,” Merlin continued, “our training methods are competitive. At some point, whoever makes it on the team will be running and rating competitive competition for certain slots. But you’re different. We have seven definite subcategories we want covered for this team, however, after a great deal of discussion…”

“Some of it at top volume,” Eggsy added drily.

Merlin’s lips twitched to prevent a smile. “Yes. After that discussion, we agreed that this would be a cooperative training. It’s possible to wash out, but it’s also possible for all ten of you to pass. You’re more likely to wash out for not helping someone else in your group than you are for misspelling a word. Most of you are reasonably good at a foreign language. Two of you are learning one for the first time and will have your progress -- on that section only -- graded accordingly. In everything else, you’re equals. You’re starting with ten out of ten, and the only place to go is down.”

Eggsy shook his head. “Merlin’s too used to threatening recruits. If one of you isn’t making progress, we expect the rest of you to help him or her. We have no qualms about washing out the whole group and starting from scratch. Even if one of you does wash out, as long as it’s not for temperament or an unknown psychological issue, there will be a place for you with Kingsman. We’re not going to waste good people.”

A young Asian man named Derek said, “So what will the training look like?”

“First of all, those of you who already work here, do you know what the first test for the knights is?” Eggsy glanced at the five he knew.

There were general headshakes, but Jamal and Gemma both hesitated. “Come clean,” Eggsy said to them.

Jamal said, “Don’t know what it is, but I know I’ve seen them sleeping on the lawn when I come in in the morning.”

Gemma added. “I generally work night shift, so I know they’re wet. But…” She shrugged.

Merlin glanced at Eggsy and they both nodded. 

“You’ll go through all but one,” Merlin began.

“Two,” Eggsy said.

Merlin thought for a second and then said, “You’ll go through most, though not all, of the exercises the knights go through. The one we just asked about won’t happen tonight, but could come at any time in the next six weeks.”

“At the end of six weeks, we’ll make some preliminary evaluations, let you know what you need to work on, maybe wash someone out if we think there’s no chance of bringing him or her up to the mark,” Eggsy said. “We expect the training will last another eight weeks beyond that with a second evaluation at week ten and a final evaluation at week fourteen.”

“No one’s going to get everything right away. We know that,” Merlin said. “The main items we’ll be looking at by the end of week six are how cooperatively you work, how physically fit you are, and how well you integrate with the three existing departments. Those of you who already work here, can help the other with that.”

Eggsy added, “The one score I’ll give you right now. You must, at the end of the first six weeks, be able to keep up with a knight or Merlin for at least a minute in a fight.”

Jezza said with more than a little sarcasm, “A whole minute. You think we can’t last a minute in a sparring ring? What’s the average age?”

“The oldest is fifty-five. There are three more in their early forties, another five in their early thirties, one in his late twenties, and the last in her early twenties. And I’m fifty-six,” Merlin said.

Jezza snorted. “No offense, mate, but I can take you.”

Eggsy laughed, “One, you don’t call Merlin ‘mate.’ _He_ hates it, but I’ll give you a pass if you call him 'guvnor' or 'guv.' Generally, you refer to him as either Merlin or sir. Is that understood?”

Jezza was discomfited by the contrast between Eggsy’s demeanor and his words. “Yes, er… what do I call you?”

“Sir or Arthur. Jamal and I are old mates, so he gets a pass on using my nickname with me.”

Jamal said, “No, sir. Not while I’m in training. Though I might call _you_ ‘guv.’”

“Thank you for leading by example, then,” Eggsy said. “Also, Merlin, I believe Percival is in today?”

“Yes, sir.”

Eggsy tapped his glasses. “Rose, would you ask Percival if he would be amenable to sparring at eleven this morning? I’ll stand him lunch on Friday if he agrees.” There was a pause. “Thank you, Rose.”

“In that case, Jezza,” Eggsy said, “You’ll be sparring with Percival at eleven this morning.”

“Yes, sir,” Jezza said.

Merlin did his best to keep a straight face while he sipped his tea.

***  
Jamal and Gemma had led the others through the grounds showing them the way to all the estate’s major landmarks, including noting a couple which were off limits, and got them to the sparring gym by ten thirty. Each of them had an assigned locker with gym clothes made to measure in them. 

They had a few minutes to get ready and warm up. Merlin, Eggsy, and an older man in glasses were already in the room and warming up when they arrived.

“Jezza,” Eggsy called, “meet Percival. He’s one of the knights at the table. You’ll be sparring with him. No eye gouging. No broken bones. Understood?”

Percival nodded curtly and said, “Good to meet you, Jezza.”

Jezza swallowed hard. “And you, um, sir.”

Eggsy gestured to the sparring ring. “Let us know when you’re ready.”

Percival said, “Ready, Arthur.”

Jezza loosened his shoulders and neck and said, “Ready, sir.”

It was over quickly.

“Forty seconds,” Merlin said.

“Better than I’d’ve thought,” Eggsy added.

Percival said, “I definitely need to schedule more sparring time. Merlin? Will you have time over the next couple of weeks?”

“I promise I’ll work you in. You may have to fight some of this lot, too, sir.”

Percival said, “I look forward to it.” He turned to Eggsy, “With your permission, Arthur?”

“‘Course. Be thinkin’ where you want lunch on Friday.”

Percival exited and the others just stared at the sparring ring. Jamal, Gemma, and Derek had already started Jezza walking it off and making him sip water.

“Gemma, think you manage to get Jezza to medical alone?” Merlin asked.

“Yes, Merlin.”

She draped his arm over her shoulders and guided him.

Derek said, “That man’s in his fifties and worried because it took him forty-five seconds to lay out a man twenty years younger?”

Merlin glanced at Eggsy and raised an eyebrow.

“Thank you for volunteering, Derek.” Eggsy held out his hand for the stop watch.

Merlin said, “Ready.”

Derek took a couple of deep breaths and said, “ _Qui nos morituri te salutant_ *”

Merlin snickered and let the younger man make the first move. 

“Fifteen seconds,” Eggsy said. “Can someone get Derek an ice pack?”

Gemma came back just as they were getting him settled with a pack on his elbow.

“All right, someone pass this on to Jezza later. I don’t expect you to last more than a minute against a knight or Merlin by the time this is over. As you keep practicing against us, you’ll get better, and you’ll last longer. What we need from you is to be able to train others to that level of fitness. Maybe out of this group, one of you will be the sparring king or queen and that will become your primary training duty, but, an’ let me clear an’ all, I ain’t expectin’ it.”

Merlin added, “Arthur’s right. We expect you to be able to help the knights regain fitness as part of their rehabilitation. We expect you to match them on the obstacle course and exceed them in certain other areas, but fighting is something knights have to do at a much higher level than I hope you’ll ever need.”

“Jamal, we’ve never sparred,” Eggsy said.

“You kiddin’, Arthur? Daisy could probably take me out.”

“I know you’ve been sparrin’ with Lancelot, so none o’ that.” He cocked his head toward the sparring area.

Jamal rolled his eyes. “Good thing me affairs are in order.”

Eggsy went loose as soon as his bare feet hit the mat. “Ready.”

“Ready,” Jamal said. He let Eggsy take the first swing. 

The fight was fast and brutal, with punches obviously pulled. Eggsy was faster and more agile, which gave him an edge, though Jamal was heavier and, arguably, stronger. Eggsy laid him out, and Merlin said, “Two minutes.”

“Was you goin’ easy on me?” Jamal asked as he took Eggsy’s hand up.

“No. Your time with Lance is payin’ off.”

“Thanks, Arthur.”

The next several minutes had Merlin and Eggsy alternating as they took on the candidates individually. No one else exceeded Jezza’s forty-five seconds.

They were all relieved to be given free time after lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * "We, who are about to die, salute you." It's what Gladiators said before the games in ancient Rome.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More "training the trainers."

“I’ll go easy on you,” Jezza said.

Gemma snickered, and Derek just shook his head.

Jamal said, “Why’d’ya think you’d need to be easy on Lancelot? She’s a knight like any other, an’ none of us has a good track record against the knights.” Jamal was still the only person in the cohort to last longer than a minute against any of the knights. He’d actually managed a minute and a half against Merlin and three minutes against Tristan.

Jezza raised an eyebrow. “Really, you think someone that small could beat you?”

“Lancelot beats me regularly in the ring. She may be small, but she’s also fast and completely willing to take any advantage she sees.”

Jezza just rolled his eyes. He slid into the sparring area and said, “Just ‘cause he takes it easy on you doesn’t mean I will.”

Roxy winked at Jamal and said. “Side bet that I get you down in less than thirty seconds? I’ll give you two to one.”

“Sure. I gotta tenner that would like some comp’ny,” Jezza said, “Ready.”

“Ready,” Roxy answered and Derek started the stop watch. 

“Nineteen seconds,” Derek said as Roxy pinned Jezza.

“Good. I’ll add a manicure to my hairdresser’s appointment tomorrow.” 

Randie and Tommie, two young women from Scotland, helped Jezza to his feet. “Need medical?” Randie asked. 

“Nah, but I could use an ice pack.”

“And a styptic pencil,” Tommie called after her. 

Roxy said, “Are you next, Jamal?”

“Sure. At least let me get to twenty seconds. For me pride.”

Roxy shook her head. “You lasted over a minute with Merlin. I’d been a knight for two months before I managed that.”

“You been trainin’ me well.”

Roxy said, “Ready.”

Jamal answered, “Ready.”

Jamal knew from practice that the key when fighting her was to angle her to use her arms and never let her wrap her legs around around your torso. Once she did that, she could leverage any number of headlocks which meant either going down or calling time rather than risking a broken neck. At one point, he pinched her Achilles tendon to make her flinch back from a leg wrap. 

She finally got him down using a combination of a leg sweep and her body weight on his shoulders. The fist over his groin was also intimidating.

“What was the time, Derek?” Jamal asked as Roxy moved off him and gave him a hand up.

“Five minutes,” Gemma said with awe in her voice. “That’s…”

“Pretty good,” Lancelot said. “I’ll remember that tendon pinch.”

“Isn’t that out of bounds?” 

Merlin came in and said, “Jezza, after nearly a month of daily sparring, what makes you think anything is out of bounds?”

“Well…”

Merlin shook his head. “Knights are trained to such a high standard because they will be fighting for their lives and, occasionally, protecting other people while doing so. There’s a reason we forbid eye-gouging and breaking bones. In a real fight, both of those are absolutely on the table.”

Merlin stepped into the sparring area with Roxy. “Who’s timekeeper today?”

Derek said, “I am. I’m supposed to stay off this ankle for another day or two.”

“All right,” Merlin said. “Call time at five minutes, please, if one of us hasn’t pinned the other by then.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ready,” Roxy said.

“Ready,” Merlin replied.

The speed was what always got them when they watched two knights or a knight and Merlin face off. Merlin pinned Roxy with a foot at her throat, and Derek called, “Three minutes, twenty- six seconds.”

Merlin stood and said, “Not bad, lass.”

“Have they ever seen you and Arthur go at it?” Roxy asked.

“What makes that special?” Randie asked.

“For the past two years, I’ve seen Merlin win three times and Eggs -- er, Arthur -- win once. Every other bout has had time called. How long do you go for, now?”

Merlin said, “Generally twenty minutes. We’ve done a few longer bouts.”

“How do you do against Arthur, Lancelot?” Tommie asked.

“The longest I’ve managed was ten minutes, but that was before I had a child. And, to be fair, he beat me then. We usually draw, and I don’t think I’ve won against him since we were in training together.” She loosened her shoulders and said, “Who’s next?”

***   
Eggsy and Morgana were sitting in Arthur’s office when Jamal knocked on the door.

“You’re the last one, so you get tea,” Eggsy said. He greeted his old friend with a hug, and said, “I don’t know if you’ve met Morgana since you helped us out with Dean.”

“No, I don’t think I have,” Jamal took her hand and said, “It’s nice to see you again.”

“And you, Jamal.”

“So, Merlin and I are having individual interviews with everyone, now that we’ve hit six weeks, but, since you and I know each other, Morgana’s in as a rater. Is that all right with you?”

Jamal said, “‘s fine, Eggsy. Sorry, Arthur.”

“It’s just us. Eggsy’s fine.”

“And I’m Fiona.”

“Thank you, Fiona.” 

Rose brought in tea and everyone took a cup. 

“I remember when we thought Tetley’s was upmarket,” Jamal said. “I like this one.”

“Good to know,” Eggsy said.

There was a bit of a pause. Fiona broke it by saying, “You’re doing well in your Korean language classes. Since you’re part-time, we expect it will take you another fifteen months before you have any level of fluency, but your progress is sound for such a difficult language.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re top o’ the class at sparrin’ as you know, and, while your orienteering wasn’t the best, it also wasn’t the worst.”

“Tommie said she’d help me with that, but as tightly packed as our training is, we haven’t had much chance to work on it.”

“Fair enough,” Eggsy said. “So, the big question, is there anyone in your group that you’d wash out?”

“Eggsy, that’s…”

“It ain’t grassin’, Jamal. You’re goin’ to be evaluating people at every level in the organization. We need to know that you’re able to be objective.”

Fiona said, “Not so much objective, but able to articulate your reasons. You may be overridden, but we need to know that you can make an evaluation and back it up.”

“Gemma’s a little behind on swimming and parkour. Got to say, she was hard to get to the breathing tubes during that flooded room. Having said it, though, she’s workin’ hard. She’s not afraid to ask for help from other people and she ain’t ashamed of talkin’ to the psychologists about her fear of drownin’. Might keep an eye on her, but for now, I think she should be safe. Tommie and Randie are good all-rounders. Don’t exceed in anythin’ yet, but they’re good. I’m a bit worried about Derek’s physical condition -- not strength, stamina -- but again, that’s a keep an eye on it situation, not a wash him out. Most of the others are like Tommie and Randie, ‘cept they’ve got one thing they do really well.”

“So everyone goes through?” Fiona asked.

Jamal shook his head. “Jezza. He’s a bit blokey. If I thought he was improvin’... but he’s still positive that he can beat what he calls ‘the girl knights.’”

“‘The girl knights?’” Eggsy said.

“He was callin’ them the ‘dames’ for a bit, but he realized the women in the group didn’t care for it.” 

Eggsy shook his head. “I’d missed that epithet.”

“The big problem is that he ain’t learning. I knew from the first that Roxy was better trained than me, but the first time I fought her I figured that I was pretty fast and had more reach. Then she got me on the mat in under a minute and praised me for doin’ that well.” He chuckled at the memory.

Fiona said, “So you learned, and it sounds like quickly not to underestimate her.”

“I already knew that, mostly, but y’know, we all got our ego. Thing is, Jezza doesn’t seem to want to learn it. He’s not gettin’ any faster in his sparrin’ either, an’ I know that’s the only thing that gets me over a minute with any of the knights. I don’t know how he’s doin’ on the intellectual side, but just based on the things we do together, Jezza’s not goin’ to be a good fit.” He bit into his teacake while Fiona and Eggsy seemed to carry on a conversation without talking.

“Thank you, Jamal. Work on your orienteering. Keep helping Gemma with her swimming and fear of water. You’re through for the next four weeks. Take the weekend at home and we’ll see you Monday,” Eggsy said.

Somehow Jamal wasn’t surprised to find on Monday, that the group was now nine and Jezza was gone.


End file.
